Lower the Shields
by TwoFacedHero
Summary: Another year of high school begins at World Academy, and the sophomores are all assigned to help a younger student around school for the first few weeks. When Lili gets paired up with the potty-mouthed Lovino Vargas, Vash can't help but feel protective of his younger sister. Will he learn to ever let go? Many pairings, some crack, some not. LiechxRomano, AustriaxSwitzerland
1. Another Year

**Hello, and welcome to "Lower the Shields"! This story will be focusing on Austria/Switzerland, as well as Liechtenstein/Romano (both are pairings). And, of course, they'll have some more minor crack pairings - perhaps Japan/Belarus and England/Poland? Well, apart from Austria/Switzerland and Liechtenstein/Romano, no other pairings are set :P**

**Before you begin, please note that I _will_ be writing somethings in other languages, such as _fratello_, _danke, bruder,_ etc. I won't be writing in accents, however.**

**Also, since this is Liechtenstein/Romano, there will be no Spamano. I know that, like, pretty much everyone in the Hetalia fandom ships that (I do too!) but it won't appear in this story. (I'll be posting one soon, though!)**

**Also, there is _some_ swearing, because this is Romano, after all. I haven't yet decided whether I'll bleep out the cusses or not - so far I'm kind of avoiding them.**

**This chapter is more of a prologue - the next chapter will be more interesting, I promise!**

**Anyway, let's begin! I don't own Hetalia, but I do own this story!**

* * *

Vash knocked on his little sister's bedroom door.

"Ah! Please come in, big brother!" was her sweet response. The blonde boy opened the door and walked in, taking in everything with a strict, yet protective glance.

"How are your preparations?" he asked. Lili nodded with a smile.

"Quite well, I believe. I have notebooks for all my classes, a pencil case with pencils, pens, erasers and so on, as well as a couple of books to read in my spare time." She replied, motioning to her school bag.

Vash nodded approvingly. For the first day of high school for his little sister, that definitely seemed to be enough. He, being a year higher up than his little sister took great pride in preparing her for the first day of school, telling her where all her pre-chosen classes were, which teachers were to watch out for and so on. In all honesty, he just wanted Lili to be ready for all of this – after all, it seemed that such an innocent and fragile girl wouldn't fit in with all the other students at the rather strange school.

…Or perhaps he just didn't want her to grow up.

His efforts, however, although they were with good intention, were probably unnecessary. Tomorrow morning, each of the sophomores would be assigned to be an older class "buddy" to a freshman, so they'd tell her everything that she needed to know, as well as take her around classes and all.

_But what if she gets assigned to one of those weirdoes, like Francis, Mathias, Gilbert, or God forbid! Roderich?_ Vash thought, worrying over. He had, with his best efforts, raised his younger sister and managed to help her retain her innocence, but what if this so-called "buddy" would corrupt her? Her best chances were amongst the quiet kid, Kiku or perhaps the cry-baby Katyusha. It was a terrible thing, he thought, that older siblings couldn't be the "buddies" of their younger relations.

"Well, you should get to bed, Lili. I want you to be rested for school tomorrow." Vash said after a while. His younger sister nodded and smiled at him.

"Good night, big Bruder." She said sweetly with a curt nod. Vash nodded back in return and walked out of the room, only somewhat relieved by what he saw for his sister's preparations. Oh well, only the day itself could tell what was going to happen next.

* * *

"Here's your homeroom, Lili." Vash said, stepping aside to let his younger sister enter the room. He managed to get a glance of some of the other students in that class, and almost sighed with relief. Sure, he didn't know them, but none of her classmates from homeroom looked like troublemakers. In fact, most of them just sat at their desks, nervously awaiting the arrival of their teacher. A couple students would steal glances at others, but quickly turned away, completely unsure of what to do and how to behave around this new bunch of people.

"Danke, Bruder." Lili replied, and after smiling up at him, stepped into the classroom. Vash nodded, averting his eyes slightly.

"I'll be in front of the school gates when school's over, alright? I'll wait for you there." He said to her, and, satisfied with her curt agreement, stepped out of the classroom, turning to his own.

With his mind on his younger sister, he hardly remembered that he would be assigned a "buddy" of his own later today. All he could hope for was that the person wouldn't give him too many problems, like a certain person – no, some certain _people_ – in his grade.

Upon arriving to his homeroom, his eye twitched unhappily. Delivering his sister to her classroom had taken much longer than he had expected, which resulted in everyone else getting there before him.

"Take a seat, Mr…." the teacher, an older woman said sternly, looking at the Swiss man.

"Vash." He said, finishing her sentence.

"Yes. Please take a seat, Mr. Vash, next to…" the teacher stopped here, trying to remember her student's name. She was pointing in the direction of someone Vash knew all too well. That snobby attitude, fake glasses and cowlick were impossible to mistaken.

"Roderich!" Vash exclaimed, rather angrily.

"Why yes, that's the name!" the teacher said, finally remembering, "Take a seat next to Mr. Roderich."

Growling, Vash did as he was asked. It really was the only seat left in the class, anyways, so he didn't have much of a choice. He sat down, slinging his school bag to the floor as Roderich crossed his arms and looked the other way.

"It's good to see you too, Vash." He replied sarcastically.

Insults stung Vash's tongue, yearning to burst out of his mouth and simply let his frustration out at his (self proclaimed) arch enemy. But before he could do so, the teacher interrupted him with her talk.

"As I was saying, in a moment you'll all be assigned a Freshman buddy. Your job will be to take them around school, make sure they're feeling comfortable with everything going on and so forth. When I read out your name, please come pick up your buddy's schedule." She said. Murmurs erupted from the class, but the teacher quickly silenced them as well.

Taking out the list, the teacher put on her reading glasses and started to read out the names (with rather terrible pronunciation, no less!).

"Antonio, you'll be taking care of Peter Kirkland." A scoff was let out from Arthur, Peter's older brother, clearly not pleased that the Spaniard had been assigned to him.

"Arthur, you'll be with Feliks Łukasiewicz."

"Ivan, Toris Laurinatis."

"Roderich, TinoVäinämöinen."

"Kiku, Natalya Arlovskaya." (At this point, Ivan let out a sigh of condolence in Kiku's direction; his younger sister really was a pain.)

"Vash,Raivis Galante." The blonde boy shrugged. He had no idea who his buddy was, but he could deal with that later. Oh well, he didn't seem like much of a troublemaker, or so he hoped. Vash went up to pick up Raivis' schedule.

"Lovino, your partner is LiliZwingli."

Vash froze in that instant. His younger sister was assigned to _Lovino Vargas_? The boy glared at the Italian who had been assigned to his Lili. Lovino was infamous for his potty mouth, as well as being rather weak, both physically and academically. Why, out of all people, must it have been Lovino with Lili?

The Italian shrugged, and stood up, walking over to the teacher's desk as he heard his name. Vash could hear the boy mumble something about how tiresome it would be, having to take care of a younger student, no less a _girl_.

It wasn't that Lovino didn't like women – no, it was completely opposite. But if this unknown girl turned out to be anything like most girls he'd met, then she would not be worth the bother. All of them were the same – stupid media monkeys, wishing for nothing more than to appeal to the rest of the class. And they were all so _girly_. Just makeup and short skirts.

Ugh.

"Alright, now that we've sorted all that out, it's important for you to find your buddy's homeroom class and wait outside there for him or her, and take them to their first class. So please move out of the classroom." The teacher said, boredom seeping through her voice. She waved her hand, ushering the students to hurry out of the classroom so that she could have some peace at last.

Vash threw his bag over his shoulder, wanting to pack up quickly to get a word with the Italian boy who would be his sister's buddy, but Lovino was fast. Vash had no idea when the boy had managed to pack his bag, for he was already well on his way out of the classroom.

"It looks like we have the same first period." Roderich said, after managing to steal a glance at Vash's schedule (accidentally, he protested).

Vash groaned, "What luck." He replied sarcastically. Not only had the Italian boy gotten away, but he had also figured out that he'd be spending the next hour and a half in the same classroom as the Austrian.


	2. First Impressions

**Hello, and welcome to chapter two of Lower the Shields! First of all, thank you for reading the previous chapter, regardless of whether you followed/favourited/reviewed or not - it means a lot to me! ^^ Cyber cookies for everyone~!**

**Now, let chapter two begin! Oh, and please excuse Lovi's language - he's always like this, you see. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! Feedback isalways appreciated!**

**(And I don't own Hetalia or any of the characters - they belong to Himaruya-sensei!)**

* * *

Lili waited outside of her classroom patiently. She glanced down at the paper in her hands: her schedule. The classes she had were pretty straight forward, and with everything her big brother had told her before, she knew pretty much where to find them all. But the teacher had insisted that everyone was to wait for their 'buddies'. And in all honestly, the girl wouldn't think about ditching – it was far too rude.

Classmates around her slowly started to leave with their buddies. Lili waved goodbye to the single friend she managed to make so far, Toris, who left with a smiling yet intimidating boy. Finally, the hallways started to clear out slightly. The girl looked down at her schedule again. Class started in ten minutes, so she hoped that her buddy would arrive soon.

"Are you… Lili?" a voice said from behind her.

Startled by this, the girl was jerked away from her thoughts, and turned to face the voice.

"Y-yes," she said softly, "And you are…?"

The boy smiled the faintest bit. In fact, Lili was sure that she noticed it because her brother smiled in the exact same way – hardly ever showing happiness openly.

"My name's Lovino Vargas. I'm your 'buddy'." He said, a hint of boredom already starting to leak through his voice.

Lili smiled and held out her hand. When he didn't seem to respond to that, she awkwardly put it back down, hanging at her hips. The boy was rather handsome, she had to admit, with dark auburn hair, a strange curl coming from the left side, and eyes to match. His dark complexion somehow managed to make his dark hair stand out even more. The scowl on his face faintly reminded Lili of her older brother, making her think back to her older brother. But along with the fact that he was a stranger, she would be lying if she said he looked friendly. And that was more than enough to intimidate the younger girl.

"Eh… It looks like you have…" Here Lovino stopped in mid sentence to cringe, "your _German_ class first."

Lili nodded. As she had waited for her buddy to come pick her up, she had memorized her time schedule, and the German class was indeed first period. However, she had to admit that she had no idea why the Italian boy was so hesitant about her taking that language.

"Follow me," Lovino sighed, "I hate going past that fu—I mean, past that _dreadful_ class, but I'll take you there."

Lili smiled slightly, "I think I could find my way around. You don't have to take me there if you really don't want to go past the German classroom."

"T-tch!" he scoffed, "I'll take you there! Geez, who do you think I am? A coward?"

At this point, Lili had shrunk back slightly, rather frightened of the boy's harsh approach. Although she had seen her older brother act like that to some people, he had never spoken to her in such a manner, so this was truly a new experience. And, well, Lili couldn't say she enjoyed it.

At the same time, Lovino grabbed her hand and started pulling her (rather forcefully) towards the language section of the school. The girl's eyes widened at the gesture but didn't resist it—the boy surely meant well, right? …And perhaps struggling against his grip wasn't a very good idea.

Looking up at her buddy's face, Lili could easily see that his face was burning red – though whether it was from anger or embarrassment, the girl couldn't tell. He was mumbling some things in his mother language, she presumed, so she only caught a couple words that she barely knew: _stupido…fratello…idiota…tedesco_.

"E-excuse me-?" Lili asked in a soft tone, rather hesitant, "Are you alright? Your face seems a little red, Lovino."

To call his face "a little" red was an understatement. No, it was so much more than that – almost the identical shade of a ripe tomato.

"_Si!_" The Italian replied quickly, "I'm just a little angry, damn it!"

Lili raised her eyebrow at his wording. She understood that '_si' _was 'yes' in Italian, but what about that other word: "damn it"? She had certainly never heard anyone use that – was it in his language as well?

_I'll ask Bruder after school, _she thought firmly, _He'll surely know what it means!_

They walked the rest of the way in silence, although Lovino still held a tight grip on Lili's fragile hand; he was no doubt getting angry just thinking about something. After all, the fact that he had to take someone to the _German_ language classroom prodded emotions that no sane man would dare to touch with a ten foot stick. It was bad enough that Lovino's younger twin brother kept hanging out with the macho German kid in their grade, Ludwig. And oh, how Lovino hated that boy! At times it seemed that Feliciano, Lovino's brother, liked Ludwig more than his own family! Tch, what kind of brother was that?

"I believe this is my classroom." Lili said softly, stopping before a door.

Lovino's mind snapped back into reality, though it took him a couple seconds to comprehend where they were and what was going on.

"Er—yes, you're right. This is it." The Italian said, nodding as he confirmed that the number on the door matched the one printed on the girl's schedule. The two of them stood in front of the door awkwardly for a moment, neither saying anything nor even looking at each other. Finally, Lili broke the silence.

"Could you let go of my hand, please?"

Flustered, Lovino dropped her hand at once, mumbling something to himself in rapid Italian. In his "German rant" he must have forgotten that he was still holding onto the fragile girl's hand.

Not bothering to apologize or even say anything else about holding onto her hand, Lovino opened his mouth and started to speak in a rather bored (yet still flustered) tone.

"I'll come pick you up for your next class afterwards. I have fuckingmath next, so it'll take a while for me to come, okay?" he said. When Lili responded with a curt nod (though her eyebrows were knitted from that one word she didn't know), the Italian turned away slightly, "Well… _ciao._"


	3. It means 'Wonderful'

**First of all, let me give a HUUUUGE thank you to all my current readers! Whether you review, favourite or just read my stories, it means a lot to me. So thank you! :)**

**Sorry for posting this kind of late. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to end the school day in this chapter or not (I wrote both possible chapters, too...), but I eventually decided that enough has happened in one day and that it wouldn't be smart to anger Vash any further... xP**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

**P.S. I don't own Hetalia or any of the characters~**

* * *

Lili waited at the doors of the school. Students were starting to file out: some were alone, some in groups of friends and some were with their family. It seemed that everyone had stories that they yearned to tell, and as result, the whole courtyard was filled with babbling and gossip.

"'Afternoon, Lili." A familiar voice said. The young girl turned around to face the voice, her face immediately lighting up as she recognized the speaker.

"Ah, Bruder!" she exclaimed happily, embracing the boy into a quick hug, "How was your first day of school?"

Vash scoffed, remembering his 'terrible luck' today with a certain someone, "It could have been much better. And yours?"

The young girl managed a smile, "It was okay. I made friends with Toris—he's really nice! And the lunch you packed for me was really good, too!"

Vash forced a smile, "That's great," he paused here, trying not to show his sister how much this question plagued his mind all day, "And what about your buddy? Was everything okay with him? …Or _her_?" he added carefully. After all, it would seem _just a little bit_ creepy if he knew exactly who her buddy was. Which he did know. But that wasn't the point.

"Yes," Lili smiled, "Lovino—that's my buddy's name—was really helpful. He took me to all my classes, even though I told him I would manage. …But… he was a little scary sometimes…"

The girl had said that last sentence so quietly that even she had barely heard it. Yet Vash's overprotective sense picked up even the smallest hint of worry, and this was not an exception. He opened his mouth to say something, but his younger sister beat him to it.

"Let's go home, Bruder," she smiled, "I have some typical first day of school homework: writing about myself."

Vash sighed, softening his gaze, "Alright." He said. Taking her small hand into his own, they started walking towards home together.

_ Scary? …I'll have to talk to Lovino tomorrow about that. I can't let him go around terrorizing my younger sister._

* * *

Vash took the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door to their house. He didn't bother announcing their arrival as they entered their house—the siblings' parents were away at work and wouldn't be back for a while. But then again, that never bothered them—Vash and Lili would either take turns cooking or do so together, as well as most of the other house chores. That's right: they were always a team. Vash looked out for Lili, and she, in her own way, would do so as well.

The boy sighed and set his bag down. The day hadn't been _that_ stressing, but a certain weariness plagued his body. Stepping over into the rather small kitchen, Vash set some water to boil, preparing to make himself a cup of tea in hopes of chasing that tired feeling away from him.

"I have some homework to do, Bruder. …Could I ask you for help, if I need it?" the younger of the siblings asked softly.

Vash smiled ever so slightly and nodded, "Yes, of course. I'll always be there to help you." He said.

Lili smiled, obviously happy with her brother's answer, and took out a soft blue notebook out of her bag. Flipping to the first page, she only thought for a moment before starting to neatly write her assignment. If truth be told, her homework wasn't hard (at all!), but the girl always cherished the fact that her older brother was there to help her. It was simply the sort of thing that siblings were supposed to do!

Lili stopped writing for a moment. Her work was decent, she had to admit, but there was something that made it rather… dull. What was it? Perhaps she could use some sort of fancy new word to spice up this boring assignment of hers? That's right, she had almost forgot…

"Bruder," she spoke, laying her pencil down, "what does '_fucking'_ mean?"

Vash nearly spit out his drink.

"C-can you repeat that?" he coughed, dabbing at his shirt (from where he spilt the tea).

Why on earth would Lili know such a word? He knew that high school was a rough and cold place, but he had hoped that she wouldn't pick up on things like this on the first day of school! …or forever, for that matter. Anyways, he would have to come up with an excuse—he couldn't tell his younger sister what terrible meaning that word really had, right?

"Er… it means _'wonderful'._" Vash said quickly, "Where did you learn that word, though?"

"Oh, nowhere, really," Lili said cheerfully. Vash let out a sigh of relief, "My buddy Lovino taught it to me~"

_L-lovino?_ Vash thought angrily, _I'll kill him! Why on earth would he teach a young girl—much less _Lili_—such a word? He'll pay…_

"Anyways, thank you, Bruder! I can always count on you~" the girl said cheerfully before picking up her pencil and continuing to write her assignment.

_That word will definitely add a spark to my work, _Lili thought cheerfully, _And while I'm introducing myself… perhaps I'll write about my big brother as well? Yes, he'll appreciate it for sure!_

* * *

**...What have I written? xP** **There'll be more on that specific assignment later...~**

**I hope you enjoyed this [much shorter] chapter!**


	4. A Race with Time

**Hello dear readers! First of all, thanks for all your support and for being patient with me :)**

**Just letting you know that I might take longer to update things or answer to PMs (I know that I already take a long time... :P) because we're moving and that does kill a lot of time :/ Anyway, thanks for understanding and I hope this chapter will be pleasing~**

**I don't own Hetalia, by the way~**

* * *

Vash tapped his pencil against the desk impatiently. His first class was Language and Literature, also known as "English class". The teacher had already passed out copies of the lecture they'd be reading this quarter, "_Julius Caesar" _by some old English guy.

_Well, _Vash thought with a tone of annoyance, _at least he's not _Austrian.

"Vash, stop with that relentless pencil tapping. I can't concentrate." An all-too-familiar voice whispered harshly. The Swiss boy groaned inwardly, but reluctantly stopped with the 'annoying' habit of his.

"Mr. Roderich, no talking, please. Keep to your silent reading." The teacher said sternly, glancing at the Austrian. He nodded at once, though his face was burning terribly. Roderich had never been 'scolded' for his behavior at school. Ever. And frankly, the second day of school wasn't a great time to start.

Vash hid his smirk behind his copy of _Julius Caesar_. He glanced smugly at the Austrian, who noticed the smirk all too clearly. Vash could tell that the brown-haired boy was itching to say something back, but he glanced back at the teacher and decided against it. One 'scolding' was more than enough for a day, he decided.

The class dragged on slowly, and every student (except for the British kid, Arthur) was anxiously counting the minutes until the bell would ring. Reading Shakespeare for the very first period of the second day of school was a rather boring way to spend the beginning of a school year, and the teacher was even more so. When the bell finally rang, the students practically jumped up at the chance to leave the tedious hell of a class.

"Feliciano!" Vash cried out as soon as they were able to speak once again. The Italian boy turned around in slight confusion; who in this class would want to speak with him right now? But his face lit up as soon as he recognized the Swiss man.

"_Buongiorno, _Vash! I didn't know we were in the same English class!" he started to babble happily. Vash cleared his throat, listening impatiently to the Italian's cheerful ramble.

"Er, yes, we share the same Lang. and Lit. class," he said, itching to get back on topic, "but what I really need to know is where Lovino is right now."

"Eh? You want to meet with my _fratello_?" the Italian thought for a moment, "But what do you want with Lovino anyways? I thought you two avoided each other."

Vash nodded grimly, "That's true," he said, "I usually try to stay away from your potty-mouthed brother. But I really need to speak to him, so I'd appreciate it if you told me which classes he has next."

"Eh… I dunno. He never tells me things like that." Feliciano pouted, forgetting about Vash's request and starting to mourn over the fact that his brother would shut him out of personal things such as his school schedule.

Vash sighed. The boy wasn't of any help, and he didn't want to stay around long enough for him to burst into tears. The only thought on Vash's mind as he speed walked through the hallways was to find Lovino. …Or Lili. He needed to speak to them both—for different reasons, yes, but he needed to speak to them nevertheless. He had long ago memorized his younger sister's schedule, so he knew where to find her (unless she left to wander around school during break time), but he had absolutely no idea where to find Lovino. But then again, _if_ the Italian boy was a responsible buddy (which Vash sincerely doubted), then he should be waiting for Lili beside her classroom. And in all honesty, if he _was_ in fact waiting for her while Vash came there, then he'd be killing two birds with one stone.

Vash knew that Lili would surely be waiting for Lovino outside of her classroom, like she'd always used to wait for her older brother back in elementary and even middle school. But what if that fool didn't bother picking up his little sister? Surely he couldn't trust Lovino with such a job! No, Vash decided, he'd have to step in and help his little sister, that would be his reason if Lili, or anyone else, ever asked him. After all, he had _always_ been responsible, unlike Lov—

_Crap,_ thought Vash, suddenly stopping in the hallway, _I forgot about that Raivis kid!_

Vash winced – in his hurry and worry to make sure that his little sister was safe, he had completely forgotten about picking up his own 'buddy'. The younger boy had Beginner Art, but… that was in the completely opposite direction of his sister's German classroom.

The boy cringed. This was a hard decision, yet with a very simple solution (or so Vash thought). Swatting his hand in the air, the Swiss man broke into a run in the direction he had been walking to previously. Raivis could wait a couple more minutes – Lili was far more important than this kid whom he had just met.

The sophomore dashed through the hallway, no longer even bothering to say 'excuse me' or 'sorry' when he pushed students aside. Yells echoed in the hallway, all directed at Vash and his rudeness, but the Swiss boy didn't even notice them; his mind was far too preoccupied with his little sister _and_ about getting back to Raivis on time (although that was, with no doubt, far less important to Vash than the first). After running through the crowded hallways for two minutes or so, the panting boy finally made it to the German classroom. Sighing with relief, he tried to calm his breathing – after all, he didn't want his little sister to know how worried he really was about her.

_She's not waiting outside, _Vash observed, _she's probably still in the classroom; it definitely seems more spacious than the hallways outside._

The sophomore pushed the German classroom door open, "I'm here, Lili, I'll take you—"

"Hm? Are you looking for Lili, darling?" a warm voice asked.

Vash jerked his head to face the voice and his eyes widened when he did so. Apart from the teacher organizing some things in the back, the classroom was dead empty.

"Er… yes," he said, noting that this lady was most probably Lili's teacher (and that she probably knew where she went), "Do you know where my little sister is?"

The teacher nodded, "Her buddy came to pick her up. That's all I know, sorry, darling."

Nodding his head at the teacher, Vash turned back to the door. He muttered a soft "thank you" and then hurriedly left the door. His heart was beating like a hammer inside of his chest– _where is she?_

The five minute warning bell rung loudly. Vash cringed. Break was almost over and he had neither managed to find his little sister nor to pick up his buddy. There simply wasn't enough time to do both – perhaps there wouldn't even be time to complete _one _of these objectives. Deciding to trust Lovino with Lili _just_ this once, Vash bit his lip and started making way back to find Raivis.


	5. Wrong Place, Wrong Time

**Hello! ...Er... yeah, sorry for the absence. I'm afraid I can't do anything about that :/ ...And this chapter isn't particularly interesting, either, though I'm sure the next one will be! ;)**

**Anyways, thanks for sticking with me, and thank you to everyone who reads and/or reviews ^^ It's all very much appreciated!**

* * *

Raivis stood outside of his classroom nervously. Class had ended ten minutes ago, but there was still no sign of Vash. All of his classmates had long left already, leaving with the older students who had come to pick them up. The hallways were starting to thin out now, seeing as the five minute warning bell had rung and students were starting to find their way to their period two classes. The knot in Raivis' stomach tightened – how was he supposed to get to class on time like this? Unlike some of his friends, the Latvian boy had simply no idea where his classes were.

"Hm? Raivis, is that you?"

The boy snapped out of his worried thoughts and gazed at the speaker, face immediately lighting up once he recognized his friend.

"Ah, Tino! Good morning – it's so good to see you!" he replied happily as Tino and his buddy walked up closer to the Latvian.

"You too! Hey, what class do you have next? I've got General Sciences. Sounds pretty cool, if you ask me!" Tino exclaimed, starting to babble cheerfully.

"I have History," Raivis replied, almost worriedly, "but I have no idea where it is."

"Eh? Doesn't your buddy know, either?"

Raivis dropped his head, sweat-dropping, "Well…" he said awkwardly, "I think my buddy forgot about me…"

"That's not cool!" Tino exclaimed, almost aghast, "Who is your buddy, anyway?"

"Er… I think his name is 'Vash'." Raivis responded meekly.

"Vash, huh?" an unfamiliar voice said, making the Latvian almost jump up from surprise, "How predictable."

"Hm? You know him, Roderich?" Tino asked, to which the Austrian nodded grimly, "That's so cool! Raivis, our buddies are buddies themselves!"

"I wouldn't say that Vash and I are 'buddies' – more like 'rivals', actually," Roderich replied to the two freshmen. He turned to Raivis, "I apologize for Vash's… ghastly behavior. If you'd like, I'd be more than happy to lead you to your next class."

"R-really? You'd do that?" the Latvian asked, almost not believing his luck.

"Of course. I can't just leave anyone – much less Tino's friend – all alone when class is about to start. Now, come along, both of you. Class starts in three minutes." Roderich said with a small smile.

Nodding, the two boys smiled at each other and then at Roderich before beginning to walk towards class.

* * *

Vash ran up to the Beginner Art classroom. There were still two minutes before class was to begin – perhaps he'd be able to find Raivis before time was up? Yet the classroom was dead empty – Raivis was definitely not there, and neither was anyone else. Looks like the teacher had a free period now, so there was no class to teach.

_Crap!_ Vash thought grimly, _where could he be? I thought I told him to wait outside of class for me!_

The Swiss boy closed his eyes. Of course Raivis wouldn't wait for him. Class had ended twenty minutes ago and the next class was going to start any time now. But had the boy managed to find his classroom? The high school really was rather big, and even returning students got lost in the numerous hallways every now and then.

Vash's heart pounded in his chest like a hammer. He had made the wrong decision, hadn't he? And god-knows-where Raivis could be now.

His green eyes snapped open with a determined glint in them. He had to make sure that Raivis was alright, regardless of how little he truly cared. It was his job as his buddy, and he simply couldn't let himself sink down lower than Lovino's level. With his back straight and chin held up high, the Swiss boy marched forward in the direction of Raivis' next class – History.

* * *

Lili smiled to herself as she took out her pencil case and books for her class. It was almost time for class to commence; the teacher was writing up his name on the white board. The students were seated in groups of four – the people in Lili's group were ones she barely knew, but was happy to meet new people nonetheless. The boy on Lili's right had dark brown hair and a monochrome expression; he presented himself as Kaoru. A pretty girl with seemingly silver hair sat in on Lili's left; her name was Natalya. The fourth member at their table was a smaller boy with light brown hair – he had come into class the latest of all the students, just before the bell rang. With a shaking voice, he presented himself as Raivis.

"Alright, class, it's time to begin. My name is Mr. Hayes, and welcome to History class!" the teacher started. Here he paused, almost as if expecting applause or at least _some_ kind of response. When he didn't, he cleared his throat and continued speaking, "Now, since I don't know any of you, I'd like to learn your names. Let's begin with some ice breakers, shall we?"

He walked over to Natalya with a smile and handed her a rubber ball, "Now, please tell us your name and then throw the ball to someone in the room. Then that person will say his or her name and throw it to someone else. After the first round, we'll make a game out of this."

The girl took the rubber ball into her hands and squeezed it slightly.

"My name is Natalya Arlovskaya." She said simply before turning to Lili and 'throwing' the ball to her. It was an almost lazy action.

Lili took the ball into her hands and smiled back at Natalya. Perhaps they could become friends...? The Swiss girl opened her mouth to announce her name like the girl before her had done, but was cut off by the door slamming open. She stared at the panting figure in the doorway, and her eyes widened in surprise as she recognized the blonde boy.

"…Big Bruder?"


End file.
